Endoscopic surgical devices are often preferred over traditional open surgical devices because the use of a natural orifice tends to reduce post-operative recovery time and complications. Consequently, significant development has gone into a range of endoscopic surgical devices that are suitable for precise placement of a working end of a tool at a desired surgical site through a natural orifice. These tools can be used to engage and/or treat tissue in a number of ways to achieve a diagnostic or therapeutic effect.
The ability to manipulate a tool at a surgical site can be limited. For example, the devices and methods used to place a tool may restrict its movement relative to the surgical site, to an endoscope, or to other tools. At the same time, many endoscopic procedures require that surgical tools be positioned or used independently at the surgical site. For example, oftentimes it is desirable that an endoscope provide a view of a surgical site and/or the distal end of a surgical tool. The view of the endoscope may be limited to nearby objects within a small viewable area in front of the endoscope and require manipulation of the endoscope and/or the surgical tool in order to obtain an adequate view. A procedure may also call for the cooperative use of two or more surgical tools and may necessitate precise placement and orientation of such tools with respect to one another. For example, one tool may be employed to manipulate or grasp tissue while another tool dissects the tissue.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and devices for viewing and/or manipulating tools at a surgical site.